The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for rapidly reestablishing the spinning operation of a spinning station of a spinning machine after an interruption thereof due to the completion of the building of a yarn package.
An open-end spinning machine typically has a plurality of spinning stations, at which spinning elements, such as rotors, generate spun yarn that is cross-wound onto packages. Traveling service units travel to the spinning stations to restart the spinning operation after a full package is replaced by an empty tube. The package removal and new tube placement operations are performed either by devices at each spinning station or by devices on a service unit. Some service units include devices for forming reserve yarn windings on tube ends projecting from the full packages prior to removing the packages. Other service units on the machine have devices for preparing ends of auxiliary yarn for feeding to the spinning element for restarting the spinning and withdrawing the restarted yarn for engaging on the empty tubes. Some machines have traveling service units that combine devices for package removal, tube placing, auxiliary yarn end preparing and feeding, and spinning restarting.
As the reserve yarn forming, package replacing, tube placing, auxiliary yarn preparing, auxiliary yarn feeding and restarted yarn withdrawing, and the restarted yarn engaging operations are all performed with the spinning station out of operation, it is desirable to reduce the overall time of performing these operations as much as possible to reduce down time and thereby increase productivity.